Inuyasha

Guest Author - Lesley Aeschliman

Inuyasha started out in 1996 as a manga that was serialized in Shonen Sunday; in the United States, the English version began publication in March 1998. The manga won the 2002 Shogakukan Manga Award for best shonen title of the year. The anime began airing in Japan in 2000, and concluded in 2004 after 167 episodes were produced. The Inuyasha anime was introduced to the United States on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block on August 31, 2002. Four Inuyasha films have also been produced and released. In 2009, 26 more episodes were produced and aired under the title, Inuyasha: The Final Act; these final episodes allowed the anime to conclude the story after the conclusion of the manga series.

The story begins in feudal Japan, where a half-demon named Inuyasha steals the Jewel of Four Souls, an artifact that can increase a person or demon's power enormously. However, Inuyasha is stopped by Kikyo, who shoots a sacred arrow at him; the arrow seals Inuyasha indefinitely to the sacred tree. Kikyo, however, is mortally wounded, and she asks her younger sister, Kaede, to burn the jewel with her body.

In modern Tokyo, a middle school girl named Kagome Higurashi lives at an old shrine, where her grandfather is the caretaker. One morning, on her way to school, she goes into the well house to retrieve her cat. While in the well house, a centipede demon reaches up through the well and pulls Kagome down into it. Kagome discovers that she has traveled back in time to feudal Japan. While exploring her surroundings, Kagome sees the sacred tree, and Inuyasha (who is still sealed to the tree). The villagers seize Kagome and take her to their high priestess, Kaede. Kaede recognizes that Kagome is the reincarnation of her sister, Kikyo, after discovering that the Jewel of Four Souls is inside Kagome's body.

The centipede demon attacks again, and Kagome is forced to release Inuyasha from his enchantment. After defeating the demon, Inuyasha tries to take the jewel from Kagome. Kaede casts magical prayer beads around Inuyasha's neck so Kagome can subdue him. The word Kagome ends up using to invoke the magic of the beads is "sit." The jewel attracts the attention of more demons; but while trying to battle with a carrion crow demon, the jewel ends up being shattered into numerous shards and spread across Japan.

Kagome and Inuyasha must team together to locate and recover all the missing shards. During their journey to locate and restore the Jewel of Four Souls, they meet Shippo (a fox demon), Miroku (a cursed monk), and Sango (a demon slayer).

Personally, I would recommend Inuyasha to anime viewers who are 14 or 15 years of age and older.